Voice, revitalised
Voice call use is becoming polarised in the UK. Factors like unlimited voice packages and increased voice minute allowances mean many users talk more than ever. These consumers have driven small overall increases in mobile voice volumes.
But at the same time, a growing number of users are going data-only. Just 3 years ago, almost all smartphone owners made at least 1 call per week. But today, in any given week, 25% of smartphone users make no traditional voice calls. They rely on data communication instead – IM, social networks, email and text messaging.
Figure 1. Weekly use of standard voice calls
Q. In the last 7 days, in which of the following ways did you use your smartphone to communicate with others (standard voice calls)?
Weighted base (2012/2013/2014/2015): Respondents who own or have access to a smartphone (1,005/2,382/2,802/3,039)
Source: UK edition, Deloitte Global Mobile Consumer Survey, May-Jun 2012, May-Jun 2013, May 2014, May-Jun 2015
If this decline were to maintain the same pace, almost half of smartphone owners would not be making traditional voice calls by mid-2018.
Many users, especially younger ones, are switching from traditional voice calls to VoIP apps, which can make and receive calls using data sent through the network (either cellular or WiFi). In this year’s survey, 14% of smartphone users used VoIP services, compared to just 5% last year.
Standard voice calls often enjoy better audio quality than these data-based VoIP services, since standard calls are carried on a dedicated part of the cellular network. With VoIP, the audio data gets no special treatment, and calls can be dropped if someone on the same WiFi network starts a large download.
But 2 new services – VoWiFi and VoLTE – are looking to fix these quality issues through active operator management of some aspects of the call. These services should roll out in the UK over the next 12 months, bringing new options for consumers as well a variety of new challenges for operators.